Stephanie Eslake is a freelance writer and editor.

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Stephanie Eslake is an award-winning writer and editor. Based in Tasmania, she works freelance and is passionate about communicating the arts.

In 2021, Stephanie Eslake was awarded an Arts Tasmania grant to write a new book for arts practitioners, and an APRA AMCOS 2021 Art Music Award (Luminary Award) for CutCommon. Most recently, she was named a finalist for Best Gaming Journalist in the 2023 Samsung Australian IT Journalism Awards, and a finalist for the Music Journalist Award in the 2023 Australian Women in Music Awards.

Stephanie kicked off her arts career more than a decade ago, interviewing talent she admired from The Cat Empire to Toto, Elena Kats-Chernin to the Dresden Dolls, New Order and plenty in between. Working as a staff writer at TasWeekend (The Mercury), subeditor and contributor to Warp Magazine, and regular critic at Limelight, Stephanie developed industry skills that would see her forge a path as one of Australia’s top arts communicators.

But the turning point was when this Tasmanian writer started thinking differently about arts communication. She began exploring topics and voices that were yet to be heard — especially in classical and art music spheres. And this is where her story really begins.

Stephanie founded CutCommon in 2014 with a vision to create an inclusive community for arts practitioners in Australia. She knew there was nothing else like it in the world — a digital and print collective of new voices in classical, jazz, and art music. A publication that would showcase talent as famous as Tim Minchin and Howard Shore, and as fresh as a first-year music student or emerging Australian composer. A space where industry topics were made accessible, and confronted head-on even when they’re not always easy to talk about, from performance anxiety among musicians to respect and safety in arts workplaces. Stephanie knew these stories were important — but to share them widely, there would need to be a shift in the way music topics were communicated. So she launched CutCommon as the nation’s first and only street press-style publication for classical music. She kept it real, and started to have some fun with an art form that’s often regarded as high-brow or elite. Australian and international audiences got on board, now visiting CutCommon more than 10,000 times a month.

Outside the publication, Stephanie is regularly commissioned by Australian arts organisations to produce content that’ll help bring their own stories of classical and art music into the 21st Century, too.

Because of her work on CutCommon, Stephanie received the City of Hobart Australia Day 2017 Young Citizen of the Year Award for her “community contribution by creating an online promotional and educational network for young Australian classical musicians”. CutCommon was also shortlisted for the Classical:NEXT Innovation Award, placing it as one of the top 10 classical music industry projects across the globe.

In 2021, Stephanie’s achievements won her an APRA AMCOS Art Music Award. And in 2023, she was in the top three Music Journalist finalists of the Australian Women in Music Awards.

Beyond CutCommon, Stephanie is a prolific freelance arts journalist and critic. You may have read her words in ABC, SBS, The Guardian, ArtsHub, and more (full list of credits below). For her writing, she was named the inaugural 2017 Kill Your Darlings New Critic Award winner, won the 2018 Tasmanian Young Achiever Awards (Arts), and was shortlisted for the 2017 Kat Muscat Fellowship. In 2020, she was selected for the Island Magazine residency project If These Halls Could Talk, a collaboration with the 2021 Ten Days on the Island Festival.

Stephanie has also written academic course content in writing, editing, and entrepreneur subject areas for educational institutions such as Foundry in partnership with Swinburne University of Technology and University of Tasmania.

For her own education, Stephanie has attended the Australian Youth Orchestra Words About Music program, and graduated from the University of Tasmania with degrees in Musicology; Sociology; and Journalism, Media, and Communications. She also has certificates in broadcast operation and microbusiness management, and has returned to university as a guest lecturer (University of Tasmania, University of Melbourne).

The writer co-founded Upbeat Monthly News for the University of Tasmania’s Conservatorium of Music, has written program content for major Australian orchestras, hosted features on Edge Radio 99.3 and ABC Classic FM, and worked in live broadcast production with Tasmanian State Parliament. In 2015, she spent time as acting editor and lead writer for The Mercury’s music publication Pulse.

The classical saxophonist has tutored woodwind in schools across Hobart, worked as co-editor and publications mentor for Hobart City Council’s Platform youth arts and culture magazine, and was part of the Making Waves’ Making Conversation interview team.

She is also a grants assessment panellist on the Tasmanian Department of State Growth’s Cultural and Creative Industries Expert Register, and was selected for the ARIA Awards Voting Academy, the APRA AMCOS Art Music Awards judging panel, Tasmanian Literary Awards panel, and the Australian Women in Music Awards Juror Council.

She is addicted to fuelled by coffee.

Services

Stephanie offers high-level services in writing and editing. Here’s what she’s probably working on right now:

Publication credits (journalism)

Stephanie has more than a decade of experience as a journalist. She now focuses on the Australian arts industry. You may have seen her feature stories, news articles, reviews, columns, and Q&As published in:

• CutCommon (founding editor)
• The Guardian
• ABC
• Island
• Meanjin
• The Mercury
• SBS
• The Herald Sun
• Mamamia
• Limelight Magazine
• Junkee
• The Music
• Crikey
• ArtsHub (ArtsHub UK, ScreenHub)
• GamesHub
• Aphra Magazine
• The Courier Mail
• The Daily Telegraph
• RendezView
• Adelaide Now
• Young Opportunities Australia
• Perth Now
• Level and Gain (founding editor)
• TasWeekend (former staff writer)
• Warp Magazine (former subeditor and reviews editor)
• Platform Magazine (former co-editor and publications mentor)

Corporate content

Stephanie is a copywriter and editor. She regularly produces marketing and communication content for individuals and organisations. Stephanie enjoys crafting website content, press releases, educational content, and more. Some recent clients include:

• Canva
• Tasmanian Symphony Orchestra
• Ten Days on the Island Festival
• Queensland Symphony Orchestra
• Melbourne Recital Centre
• MLC Insurance
• RACT Insurance
• Cult Copy
• 3MBS Fine Music Melbourne
• Melba Opera Trust
• Musica Viva Australia
• Foundry
• Frogmore Creek Wines
• Symphony Services International
• Melbourne Symphony Orchestra
• Adelaide Symphony Orchestra
• Australian National Academy of Music
• Australian Youth Orchestra

Industry awards and achievements

• 2023: Samsung Australian IT Journalism Awards – finalist for Best Gaming Journalist
• 2023: Australian Women in Music Awards – finalist for Music Journalist Award
• 2021: APRA AMCOS Art Music Award (Luminary Award) for CutCommon
• 2021: Arts Tasmania awards grant for Stephanie to produce her first book, A Writer’s Guide to the Arts.
• 2020-2021: Selected for Island Magazine and Ten Days on the Island Festival residency project, If These Halls Could Talk
• 2018: Won Tasmanian Young Achiever of the Year Award (Arts)
• 2017: Named City of Hobart Australia Day Young Citizen of the Year
• 2017: Won the inaugural Kill Your Darlings New Critic Award
• 2017: Tasmanian Young Achiever of the Year Awards – Finalist (Arts)
• 2017: Shortlisted for the international Classical:NEXT Innovation Award (for CutCommon, placing it as one of the top 10 classical music initiatives in the world)
• 2017: Shortlisted for the Kat Muscat Fellowship
• 2016: Tasmanian Young Achiever of the Year Awards – Semi-finalist (Arts)
• 2016: Guest speaker at University of Melbourne MCMIgniteLab
• 2015: Winner: Young Opportunities Australia/Penguin Random House Writing Competition
• 2008: Win TV Award Student of the Year